"Well, is it?" I asked.
"Is it true?" he said. "I don't know. I only have what Jimmy said to go on, and Lord knows he was jealous to beat the band."
"Vernell, answer me. Is this Jimmy's will?"
"Jimmy always said she wanted me for my money. Said she'd crawl up my back with spikes to get to the next best thing. Bleed me dry, is what he said. Jimmy done told me, I walked out on the best woman in the world and I-"
"Vernell, I'm gonna look for myself!" I lifted the flap and pulled out the sheaf of papers that filled it.
"Maggie! I'm trying to talk to you!" he said. "Don't you have a lick of respect for other people's privacy?"
I didn't listen; instead, I read the enclosed letter. Vernell had asked for a copy of the will. He wanted to contest it, the snake!
Highlighted in yellow were all the parts of the document pertaining to the business, including my name and Sheila's. Roxanne had been given a life insurance policy and set up with a trust fund which would dole out money monthly. Jimmy had signed over his portion of the satellite dish business to Vernell, so the lawyers seemed to feel Vernell couldn't do a thing about it. It was signed and witnessed, all legal and binding.
"Maggie," Vernell said, "it wasn't nothing personal."
I didn't even look at him. I was afraid I'd hit him if I saw that pitiful look he always wore when he knew he was in deep trouble with me. I stared at the will, forcing myself to concentrate on the paper. Signed and sealed, all good and proper. Bertie Sexton had notarized it, and Sheila's Keith and Don Evans had witnessed it, so Jimmy must've signed it in his office.
"Now, Maggie, honey, don't be mad."
I looked up at him. "Why should I be mad, Vernell? Because you want me to believe that you think you've made a terrible mistake leaving me? You can't break the will, so you want to con me into coming back to you? I don't think so, Vernell. I really don't."
"Honey, Jolene's the one started this whole mess. She called the attorney. Said we needed to make sure of our rights, and little Sheila's, too. I mean, what if Roxanne was to contest the will? And what if something was to happen to you, God forbid? I'd have to look out for Sheila's interests. She'd inherit the whole forty-nine percent. Lord." Vernell whistled. "Cain't you just see her, eighteen and loaded? You think that closet's full now!"
"So Jolene's behind it, huh? I don't buy for a New York minute that she had Sheila's best interests at heart." In fact, little pieces of the puzzle were all starting to come together in my head.
"Maggie! I can't believe you would think such a thing as that!" Vernell said, but his words were wasted. The cell phone began to chirp and we both grabbed for it.
Vernell snatched it out of my hands. "Give me that! What if it's Jolene?"
"What do you care, Vernell?" I said sarcastically. "She's just a big mistake!" Vernell put the receiver to his ear and leaned away from me, causing the truck to lurch across two lanes of highway.
"Vernell!" I hissed. "Pay attention!"
"Hello, sugar," he cooed into the receiver. "Hey, who is this?" he said, his voice shifting angrily. "Oh!" Vernell was all cooperation now that he knew it was the cops. "Yes, Officer, she's right here. I'll put her on. You have a good evening, now, y'hear?"
Vernell glared over at me as he shoved the phone into my hand and whispered, "Why didn't you tell me you gave a cop my number?"
"And when could I have gotten a word in edgewise?" I hissed back.
"Hello?"
"Maggie Reid?" I didn't recognize the voice and my heart lurched. Where was Weathers?
"Yes," I answered.
"Maggie, it's Bobby, Marshall Weathers's partner."
"Oh, hey, Bobby." His voice was tinny and faraway sounding.
"Listen, Marshall got your message and your page, but he's out of town. He asked me to call and see what you needed."
Well, I wasn't going to tell him. It was one thing to ask Marshall Weathers for a favor; but it was another thing again to ask an almost total stranger.
"When's he coming back, Bobby?"
"Well, I don't know for sure." Bobby's voice had taken on a formal, "I can't talk about police business" tone that I knew all too well from Weathers.
"Well," I hedged, "it can wait awhile, Bobby. I didn't mean to trouble him."
"Well, Maggie, you punched nine-one-one in after your number…"
I decided to play dumb. "I'm sorry, Bobby. My daughter ran off to Holden Beach with her boyfriend, and I panicked. But I know where she is now and I've got it all under control. I'm on my way there with her daddy. We've got it covered."
Bobby was not at all sure, but he had no choice. "I'll be calling him back," he said. "Do you want me to give him a message?"
"No," I said. "It can wait. Good night."
I hung up the phone without waiting for him to end the call. I didn't want any more questions. He'd already given me the one piece of information I needed: Marshall Weathers was not available. Taking care of my daughter would be entirely up tome.
I stared at down at my lap, my eyes slowly focusing on Jimmy's will. Sheila and I stood to inherit a large amount of money. Of course, we couldn't inherit if we were dead; Vernell would cash in then. I looked over at him; his roughened hands gripped the wheel, and he bit into his lower lip like a kindergartener. Vernell was not a murderer. He was foolish and bad to drink, but he wasn't a killer.
"Vernell?" I asked softly. "Think back a second. Jolene sure didn't seem too upset when I got that threatening phone call about Sheila. Remember that night? Jolene doesn't care about Sheila." And she doesn't care about you, and she pure-T hates me. "How sure are you that Jolene's with her mother?"
"Well, God, Maggie, where else would she be?" He looked across at me and saw the frightened look on my face. "Maggie, you don't think…"
Vernell's face crumpled for a brief moment, then hardened.
"Vernell," I said, my voice shaking, "hit the gas. I think Sheila's in a world of trouble."
Chapter Thirty-One
Vernell took the bridge over to Holden Beach doing eighty-five miles an hour. It was life-threatening and I attempted to tell him so, but Vernell was in full panic mode. When he nearly lost it on a curve near the top of the span, he got in touch with our mortality.
"Now, will you slow the hell down?" I yelled. "We've got hard thinking to do here."
Vernell scowled. "That's your problem," he said. "Ever' last one of you women's gotta think. Act!" he said. "Actions speak louder than words, remember? I'm gonna grab that young sport up by his dog collar and shake his ass loose of my daughter. Then I'm gonna haul her butt into this truck and drive my baby on home. That's when I'll think!"
"Pull over," I said, as we neared the bottom of the bridge. "Just pull over right now, Vernell." I reached for the ignition, like I was going to snatch the keys out, so he'd know I was serious.
"All right, all right!" Vernell whipped into a realty company parking lot, slammed on the brakes, and turned to face me. "I hope you know you're wasting precious time," he said.
"Vernell, has it not occurred to you that Keith and Sheila may not be alone?" Vernell frowned, but I continued. "Have you thought that Jolene might be down here, too?"